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Large majority of otaku in Japan want to keep being otaku after having kids, survey says

Casey Baseel May 8, 2023
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Having kids might affect their otaku lifestyles though, they understand.

Tora Con, Japan’s foremost otaku-oriented dating service, takes the otaku part of its matchmaking system very seriously. It’s a sister company to doujinshi shop Toranoana, after all, and went so far as to design a diagnostic test to determine specific otaku-related interests to better pair you with someone who shares your passions.

Since the ultimate goal for Tora Con users is romance, there’s the possibility of not just finding a boyfriend or girlfriend, but someone you want to settle down and start a family with. It’s that last scenario in particular that Tora no Ana wanted to examine a little more closely, and so it recently held a survey asking currently childless otaku how they think their otaku activity would be affected if/when they have children.

A total of 1,741 responses were collected from Tora Con users and followers of the company’s Twitter account. The first question was “If you have kids in the future, how will that affect the amount of time you spend on your hobbies?”, to which the answers were:

● I’ll spend less time on my hobbies: 82 percent
● I’ll spend the same amount of time: 16 percent
● I’ll spend more time: 2 percent

In addition to filling up your schedule, being an otaku can drain your wallet too. So next the survey asked “If you have kids in the future, how will that affect the amount of money you spend on your hobbies?”, which produced very similar responses.

● I’ll spend less money on my hobbies: 84 percent
● I’ll spend the same amount of money: 14 percent
● I’ll spend more money: 2 percent

▼ Yeah, you really want that limited-edition box set, but your kid needs clothes.

Overall, it looks like the survey participants realize and accept that having kids won’t leave them with as much time or money to devote to anime, video games, and other otaku pastimes. Even with that understanding, though, a large majority of the survey participants think that even after paring things back a bit, they’ll still be able to maintain an otaku-level connection to their hobbies. When asked “If you have kids in the future, are you going to continue your otaku hobbies?”, less than 10 percent said that gaining parent-status would make them drop their otaku one.

● Yes: 73 percent
● Not sure: 20 percent
● No: 7 percent

Of course, anime and video games remain heavily youth-oriented hobbies, and there’s a strong possibility that the child of otaku will become an otaku too. However, while about one in five respondents said they’d look forward to enjoying otaku hobbies together with their future children, almost as many said they don’t want to.

● I want to enjoy otaku hobbies with my future children: 19 percent
● I don’t want to enjoy otaku hobbies with them 18 percent
● Either way is fine: 63 percent

At first glance, 73 percent of the survey participants wanting to stay otaku after they have kids but only 19 percent wanting to do otaku stuff together might seem like a startling wide gap. But then again, there are definitely certain otaku experiences out there that would be a little awkward for the whole family to share.

Source: PR Times via Yorozu News via Hachima Kiko
Top image: Pakutaso (edited by SoraNews24)
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